#I feel like the audience is supposed to hate Kai

[joey-the-boy]

I'm mid-rewatch of The Hollow and I forgot how much I hated these motherfuckers in season one

[aluminumneedles]

The Great Knitted Christmas Gifts Bonanza of 2024

(Working title)

Besties and beloved mutuals, welcome to the chaos.

This will be wacky. Zany. Incredibly boring at times and possibly excessively dramatic for no reason at all except my (and hopefully your) amusement. We will laugh! I will cry! We will perhaps commiserate over things and also I will aggravate my carpal tunnel! I will ask for advice on things I don't know how to do! I will make polls because audience participation is enrichment for me! Good shit good shit let's get started

At the time of writing it is September 18, 2024, also known as 98 days before Christmas Eve, which will heretofore be known as The Deadline™️. I have, at present, four family members for whom I am making gifts. Now you may be thinking "Kay, that's only four people. That does not warrant a big post." But I'm making one anyway so here we goooo

PERSON #1

Mom. I already decided on my mom's gift, she's getting a shawl. It's my first shawl and I'm kinda geeked about it. It's the Cosmos Textured Knit Wrap from Mama in a Stitch

(photo taken from Mama in a Stitch's website I hope that's ok??)

Yarn is Red Heart worsted weight acrylic in Royal. Now here's the situation: I haven't made a wearable with acrylic yarn in awhile and I wasn't a huge fan of how it felt last time. But I know people do it literally every day, so: when the time comes I will be soliciting advice on how to make it soft and comfy. Plus I hate blocking and I'm gonna have to block this so yay growth!!

PERSON #2

My sister. Adorable, likes a pastel, super long hair, so I was thinking...scrunchies? And then I was thinking scrunchies are not necessarily on the level of gift I was aiming for so I thought...scrunchies + matching leg warmers (babydoll goes to the gym sometimes so i thought it would be cute)? And then. AND THEN. Was scrolling Pinterest instead of sleeping and I found these!!!

Now there are pros and cons

Pros:

I have been wanting to knit lace

I have been wanting to knit socks

Cons:

I have no experience knitting lace or socks

Oh well f*ck it we ball! Will still try to match the scrunchies to the socks. Send thoughts/prayers/advice/yarn recs, because idk what I am doingggg

PERSON #3

My brother. So, at the first of the year I started knitting a blanket kind of just because--I really liked the pattern and I wanted the feeling of starting something new in the new year. In April I decided it would be a gift for my boyfriend at the time, in May it became too hot to knit with wool, and in July the relationship ended. My brother has expressed interest in a blanket from the same pattern and has offered to take this one off my hands. I'm about 3/4 of the way done. Should be an easy gift, right? Maybe I'll throw in a matching pillow?

However, I once promised to make him this sweater:

(image snagged from the MomentsinTwine Etsy shop)

I bought the pattern, I bought the yarn, and I never delivered. (I started it and frogged it twice because my gauge was so so off.)

So uhhh PLEASE do the poll I need help deciding. Yarn would probably be a golden yellow wool blend, because that is the color he wanted 3 years ago and if I ask for an updated color choice he'll know what I'm working on 😭

PERSON #4

My dad.

Y'all.

I have no idea what to do for this man. He is a very classic "I don't want anything" person, and I am a classic "Must. Give. Gift." person. So already, times are tough!! What am I supposed to knit this man???

So I was thinking slippers-- I found a pattern for Woodland Loafers on Ravelry (pattern by Claire Slade) and I thought they were adorable. But then I was thinking why not make a whole, like, cozy care package? So I thought slippers, mug rug + mug cozy, maybe something else? He likes music, he likes to relax and watch his lil shows, he likes M*rvel?? Open to so many suggestions babes.

So...yeah. That's the show. I'll update as I go along, and if you're ever curious about how things are going or want to bully me about not making progress, please nudge me!! Sorry this was so long okay bye

[artistsmellslikeunemployment]

Another thing I noticed but no one talks about. Now we all agree the Atla movie is trash. But one major mishap would’ve been the pursue of Azula. She’s depicted as laughing because in the movie she’s interpreted as eeeviiilll. You know, a maniac, a sadist. But she isn’t. In the show when she’s smiling during Zuko’s Agni Kai with fire lord Ozai it’s because she feels a thrill to what she’s been taught represents a service in justice: punishing weakness and power reigning. Not because of inflicted pain.

Compare this:

To this:

Same for when she tracks down Zuko at the northern air temple, smiling visciously.

But her motivation that this smile originates from isn’t amusement but victory in dominance.

She just assured herself that she’s powerful. People who do that chase power because they run from weakness.

In the Boiling Rock she doesn’t needlessly torture the accused the second she finds out he isnt a traitor because she does in fact not get any arousal from such acts of violence.

Even in the beach episode:

This isn’t a game for her. She’s not a loco, she’s manipulated (and deeply traumatised) and I think it would’ve been a very tragic mistake to write Azula not misunderstood but like an unrealistic idea of what mental disorders make people do. Cruelty for the sake of cruelty, or because that’s the only way we can feel something like so many blockbusters make their villains out to be.

It’s would’ve taken away one of the main points of the show really, that an entire nation can be mislead and convinced of their rightfulness and even benevolence through propaganda, resulting in the Defense of War. This is also thematised in this episode:

And Zuko challenging his father during the black sun *rephrased: “When I grew up I was told the war was a way to share our prosperity with the world. But they hate us.” They believed this of course. Raised on lies you can’t tell apart those incongruencies and propaganda.

It’s a generational cycle…

I mean, we only see her like two times in the movie and she’s built up as being the villain to come so the audience is supposed to fear her so that might’ve been a strategic move making those few seconds as creepy as possible and they were planning on giving her her calculating self later but since they already sucked at introducing the mysterious and untouchable fire lord like it was a new art form:

*show introducing Ozai, the main villain, mysterious, powerful, unreachable and intimidating:

*movie introducing Ozai:

I guess it’s safe to assume this was the trope they were going for with Azula.

More glad than ever they couldn’t develop that.

It’s about fear and control, not unreproducible bugginess…

(Comic by ghosteyes:)

Sorry for my English

[a34trgv2]

Top 10 Worst Main Characters In Cartoons

#10. Kick Buttowski (Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil): Kicking off our list (no pun intended) is the one trick pony of a character that is Kick Buttowski. His character begins and ends with him wanting to do extreme stunts. That'd be fine for a 7 minute short as a tribute or parody to stuntmen like Evel Knevel, but for an animated series? His shtick gets old very fast and he's nothing more than a blank slate of a character.

#9. Lincoln Loud (The Loud House): A smug, narcissistic brat, Lincoln treats his sisters like a means to end at best and a pain to live with at worst. Not only does he show contempt with them on a daily basis, but he's also not afraid to humiliate and take advantage of them to stroke his own ego. Would you believe this kid's named after one of the greatest Presidents of all time.

#8. Katie Mitchell (The Mitchells vs The Machines): Nothings makes me hate a movie more than how hatable the main character is. Katie is selfish, annoying, ungrateful, and not even remotely funny. She has this bitter and resentful attitude towards her father when they were once best friends, and the way she makes this story about her is very condescending. If the movie had been about her as a child and putting her relationship with her non-tech savy father to the test, maybe I'd sympathize with her more, but as a teenager ready for college, she's just a brat.

#7. Nancy Clancy (Fancy Nancy): I now know how Dora's detractors feel after watching Fancy Nancy. Nancy is such an obnoxious, pampered brat that talks down to the audience like we're pesents and always acts like a fancy life is the best life. She's very rude, selfish, and narcissistic, all of which are qualities you're NOT supposed to have when trying to be fancy.

#6. Miriam "Mimi" Mortin (What About Mimi?): No, this gif isn't from the villain of this obscure show. It's from the main protagonist...and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Mimi is a stupid, selfish, and annoying kid who makes simple problems worse by going overboard with her plans and throwing her friends under the bus. She's also very irresponsible and oblivious to the fact that she's no better than the show's designated spoiled brat, Sincerity.

#5. Kai (The Hollow): The one character that singlehandedly makes the show worse, Kai is everything Adam and Mira DIDN’T need on their journey. He's whiny, selfish, short-tempered and a big, fat coward. Whenever there's danger, his first and only instinct is to head for the hills instead of helping his friends. He also needlessly starts arguments with Adam because Heaven forbid 2 guys have a normal conversation together without it turning into a shouting match.

#4. Kiff Chatterley (Kiff): What do you get when you put Mimi's personality in a squirrel who's dumber than a sack of acorns? You get Kiff! She's selfish, annoying, stupid, irresponsible, and overdramatic over the simplist of things. What puts her above Mimi on the list is Kiff is the 4th irresponsible main female character I had the displeasure of sitting through after I specifically said I was done with these types of character. The character's a bigger waste of time than watching a worm try to crack open a safe.

#3. Molly McGee (The Ghost and Molly McGee): If you thought Dee Dee from the last 2 Seasons of Dexter's Lab was a headache, you might want to where a helmet when being in the same room as Molly McGee. She's annoying, inconsiderate, loud, obnoxious, and really stupid. She never thinks before she acts and every time she opens her mouth, she never shuts up. The worst part about her is the fact that Scratch can't just leave her because he put a curse on her, meaning he's stuck suffering with the audience listening to this chatterbox.

#2. Oscar Peltzer (Summer Camp Island): It boggles my mind how Hedgehog, nevermind ANYONE, would be friends with this kid. Oscar is selfish, annoying, inconsiderate, and stupid. He goes through Hedgehog's personal stuff, cheats at games and gets lost in the city. He also has a bad habit of not thinking before he acts, making him all the more annoying and stupid.

#1. Apple and Onion (Apple & Onion): No need to imagine a show with 2 annoying side characters as the main characters, because it already exists. Apple and Onion are easily the worst characters in Cartoon Network's history. In addition to being annoying and stupid, they also lack basic chemistry with each other and are painfully unfunny. What puts them at #1 though is Apple's fatphobia and Onion's complacency to said fatphobia. Need I say more? -.-

Conclusion: These cartoon protagonists are not only bad role models, but they're also just badly written. Whether they be annoying, stupid, irresponsible, or selfish, trust me when I say you DON'T want characters like these as the protagonist of your show/movie. Either audience's will mistake them as villains, or they'll just tune out. Dishonorable mentions go to Fei Fei from Over The Moon (I've talked enough about that brat -.-), Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (I wouldn't have blamed Mac for not visiting Foster's anymore after the birthday party episode), and Rick Sanchez from Rick & Morty (would've made the list, but I don't wanna give Rick & Morty any more attention than it has already). Thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon ;)

[rruhlreviews]

Book Review - The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

I must preface this review with the fact I have a certificate in women and gender studies.

Some context is important when discussing the success of this book. This novel was a blockbuster on BookTok, so we need to examine what makes something a sensation for the BookTok audience. The basic elements of a BookTok success are a high concept, diverse representation, a heavy emphasis on tropes, and use of contemporary language and/or pop culture references. Strong plot or character arcs are a secondary focus of the BookTok audience.

A story about a baseball player sports-bro who has to read regency romance to be a better husband. This high concept is the selling point of this novel. What makes this appealing to BookTok? Toxic masculinity is a hot topic in society right now. Despite being parents, the characters are young, which appeals to the burgeoning new adult audience. We’ve got feminism and a strong female lead who loves art and activism. Sports romance is popular as well. I can see how an online audience who’s used to the jargon online would think the author was clever for using terms like “mansplaining.”

The premise was appealing and I was genuinely excited to read the book. I appreciate what the author was attempting to do! The part with Gavin doing the grand gesture and Thea playfully saying she wanted to was very sweet. Unfortunately, thepremise fell short of its potential for me. Contemporary romance isn't my typical read (though I have read and enjoyed it before), yet I went into this with an open mind. My reaction can best be summarized by: when I learned this was a BookTok fav, all of the criticisms I had made a lot more sense. BookTok is a site where trends change constantly and the media consumption cycle lasts a month if you’re lucky. How to market to this constantly shifting audience? Sell them bite-sized ideas. Emphasize tropes. A new take on the sports romance. Useless man fights for empowered wife. Unpacking toxic masculinity. Woke romance. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but it’s done in a feminist way this time, we promise.

Have I mentioned I don’t ascribe to the whole idea of gender?

I digress. My point is, the entire book seemed to be just these few tropes and premises. The narrative never got into the emotional depth I needed to make me care about the characters. Miscommunication as a plot device can be done well, but if you removed it from The Bromance Book Club, the entire narrative would fall apart. If the reader ever stops to wonder if men and women aren’t from two different planets, the narrative falls apart. I’m not making excuses for Gavin being oblivious to his wife’s happiness, but I must point out that Thea never communicated either. She told him to leave, so he did, then she was mad at him because he wasn’t supposed to actually leave.

The plot and characterization were weak. I was interested in Thea’s trauma, but it seemed to be glossed over to push a heavy-handed “strong woman” theme. It’s like a cake made out of all frosting. That’s the thing. BookTok wants easily consumed frosting, not a cake that requires a longer attention span or the contemplation of important concepts such as diversity and inclusion beyond a surface-level discussion. Being able to check off boxes on a representation clipboard doesn’t make a book a strong story, but that would be news to BookTok. I hate the term “woke” because it misses every single point of real social justice work, ergo it is the perfect term to describe the attempt at feminism in The Bromance Book Club, which didn't feel super feminist at all. Ultimately, the tension and comedy in the book rely on the belief that women and men are inherently different, and if you and your partner struggle to speak the same love language, it isn't a communication issue but a gender issue. Honestly, while reading, I kept thinking about the sitcom Home Improvement from the 90s which I know wasn't the intended effect. Mentally, I call this phenomenon "girlboss feminism," where the quest to create a strong female lead falls back on buzzwords and a couple tropes and ultimately has little new or interesting to say about gender.

The voice in The Bromance Book Club was a voice I recognized from other BookTok successes I’ve read. Its attempt to be witty was just edgy. The voice was self-aware, ironic, and almost felt to be poking fun at the genre as a whole, which made me wary of its sincerity. It's like when a musical has a character point out "why is everyone singing?" Personally, I'm a fan of just enjoying a genre without breaking the immersion. We’re all here to read it because we know and enjoy the general formula, and you don’t need to hit us over the head with anything. Additionally, there were sections where the author's voice bled through and it felt more like reading a rant about injustice than a story.

As a final nitpick, Courting the Countess used the phrase “male gaze” at one point and I was irked by the anachronistic language. It’s 1820, not 2020.

In conclusion, while the high concept and premise of The Bromance Book Club caught my attention, it fell short of its potential, trading a dynamic plot and characters for appealing buzzwords and a superficial attempt to discuss feminism. Because of the culture on BookTok which desires speed, surface-level representation, genre fiction that “isn’t like other genre fiction,” and easily consumed media, it was the perfect favorite for that audience. The book ultimately lacked sincerity to my eye. It felt to be showing off how not like other romances it was, and lost the heartfelt storytelling for me. TikTok as a site is all about flashy appearances with less depth.

Here I am, turning an unrelated piece of writing into a rant about society after criticizing The Bromance Book Club for doing the same thing. But this discussion is indeed part of a larger concern of mine. I worry about BookTok's potential to influence a trend of declining quality in the fiction market. I worry about the negative impact on the mental health of its userbase, afraid to show or feel things against the status quo.

Maybe I'm just not in the target audience, in which case these criticisms mean little. Maybe I read it as trying to be more than it actually was. In any case, it just wasn't for me, and that's okay, and I'm free to pick up another contemporary romance with different themes. This book certainly achieved what it meant to achieve, given its success, which I respect.

[fireheartwraith]

Someone accused me of being a hater and that pissed me off so here are all of my thoughts on the Netflix Avatar The Last Airbender live action series. What I liked, didn't like, what I'm worried about or hoping going foward, etc, in no particular order because I was just hate typing. I tried to separate my rambling into topics, but I did that after I had already typed everything. Enjoy

Zuko and Zhao:

I liked most of the fire nation characters. Zhao took some getting used to, but it was a fun new take on the character. I loved Zuko's crew and Azula's scenes. I really hate what they did with the agni kai and Zhao's death though, it really feels like they missed what those scene's meant for Zuko's character. Everyone already said all there is to say about why having Zuko fight back is a stupid idea so I won't comment on it, but having Iroh kill Zhao also pissed me off. He's supposed to die because of his own arrogance and greed and Zuko is supposed to try and help him because he's the type of person who would offer a helping hand to an enemy, despite his father's attempts at beating the kindness out of him.

Ozai:

I like what they are doing to Ozai, it could be interesting and add depth to the character, I just think it would be less ooc it those moments of doubt and "weakness" were in private? Like, in public, he is always this perfect façade but in private, the mask starts to slip away. But I think they’re going for that, so that's okay. It also adds dimension to his relationship with Azula since she also dons a mask of perfection, and this shows that she learned that with him.

Azula:

Speaking of Azula, I'm a bit worried because since we already sympathize with her, she could not be as menacing and intimidating a villain, but I hope it will work out.

Iroh:

I'm really 50/50 on Iroh. I like his interactions with Zuko, but why was he out there spewing fire nation propaganda and justifying his war crimes. My dude, what the hell.

Katara:

I really hate what they did to Katara and Suki. Let me punch someone. I won’t say much because everyone else has already exhausted this point, but yeah. Katara is so much more than a bender and a little sister. Her mother's death didn't just affect her bending, it changed everything in her life. She had to become her mother and take care of her brother when she was so young, she’s kind, caring, and a little overbearing at times. But she’s also prideful, jealous, stubborn, and has a bit a temper. She's not a perfect girl who smiles softly at the world around her. She's angry at what happened to her, she’s resourceful, she's funny, she's dedicated. This show's Katara is a bender, and that's it. And she's a prodigy at it, became a master all by herself because she don't need no man, no sir. Because #feminism is when your female protagonist is relegated to side character with no flaws apparently.

Suki:

And Suki, oh Suki... what did they do to you? Ah yes, cartoon Sokka is sexist, so instead of having him go through character growth spurred on by getting his ass beat by a girl, we'll just make that girl instantly fall in love with him and have an ungodly amount of sexual tension just so she and the audience can ogle at this shirtless man for a good thirty seconds. Yes, that's much better and not sexist at all!!

Sokka:

I like how they are focusing on Sokka's intelligence and other ways to be a hero since I've always loved that detail of his character (i seriously love when in modern aus he's studying engineering, bonus if he has a minor in arts and literature), but considering he *does* become a skilled warrior I fear this plot thread may not payoff. Like "you don't need to be a warrior to be a hero!! But here's some swordbending lessons just in case" is weird. Similar to that is what happened in the cave of two lovers: changing the answer to the riddle was stupid. It makes no sense in the lore AND makes Sokka look dumb. Couldn't he at least be the one to figure it out? The sibling moment was cute though.

Katara and Aang:

What bothers me most (after what they did to my poor girls) is that the gaang don't feel like friends, much less a found family. Katara isn't Aang's earthly attachment. If they wanted to start the romance when they look closer in age that's fine, but they could still be friends? I mean, they tell us they're friends and very important to each other, but are they? They went on a trip together and talked a couple of times. Katara should have broken him out of the iceberg on purpose because it not only shows how she disregards her own safety to help those in need, it is the inciting incident of the show and should be more than an accident. Again, she’s supposed to be a protagonist, the story is supposed to be told through HER. She's the one who should do the intro!! Not Kyoshi, Gyatso and Gran Gran.

She should teach Aang waterbending. This is Book 1: Water, why isn't that boy waterbending. That would further both the plot and their relationship. Which is supposed to be a cornerstone of the show, mind you. And I'm not saying "relationship" as in a romantic one. They should be friends, confide in one another, Katara should calm him down when he enters the Avatar state because this shows how important they are to one another. Gyatso's memory being what calms him down is cute, but if it impacts what is, again, a main plot point of the show (Katara is Aang's earthlyattachment), they shouldn’t do it. Also, Aang should have tried to firebend and accidently burned Katara. This way, Katara learns she can heal (which again is super important. Anyone remember the season 2 finale?) it also causes Aang to block out his firebending out of fear of hurting others again. WHICH IS ALSO A MAJOR PLOT POINT. Give me back Kataang, the show literally isn't the same without them.

Also, much time did the three of them spend together as a crew? Not that much, I feel like. Where's my found family?

Jet:

There are some things that I deeply miss, like Sokka's argument with Jet about the old man. The cartoon is very anti violence, it is definitely its thesis. We can discuss wether they are right or not forever, but the show is arguing that even though the fire nation citizens in the earth kingdom are living in a settler colony that serves the imperialist agenda, they are still citizens and killing them is wrong. This confrontation is so important for both Sokka and Jet's characters, and turning Jet into a terrorist feels like a betrayal of his character. And no, armed resistance like what the freedom fighters do isn't terrorism, regardless of whether or not it's morally right.

Missed theme:

The other thing I miss is Teo, his dad, and the other refugees being in an air temple. It adds a lovely grey area to the whole thing. Aang is pissed off that a sacred ancestral home of his people has been invaded and partially destroyed by machines (which also serves as commentary on industrialization and how historical sites are torn down to build skyscrapers and factories irl. We come back to the industrialization theme that the fire nation brings to the table multiple times, but a really obvious exemple is the painted lady episode in the third season), but also the people doing it are refugees running from an imperialist and genocidal army.

I think they saw the obvious parallels between the cartoon themes and real-world shit happening right now and decided to sanitize it lest they piss someone off with politics. Which ended up pissing me off.

The bending:

The visual effects where fine. Sometimes the humans ragdoll a bit too much, but that always happens. The bending looks good, but the firebenders attacking the monks in the beginning look just as powerful as eveyone else when they should be op because of the comet. The comet doesn't look thag much of a threat right now. Also in the cartoon is implied that Gyatso suffocated like twenty firebenders and himself as his final act, which is much more badass than what we got.

The creatures:

The creature design is very good, specially the ones supposed to look scary, because even the ones supposed to look cute look kind of scary here. Can you imagine anh child buying a live action Appa plushie? Because I can't. I also wish we got to see more of Appa and Aang's relationship. I understand it's probably expensive as fuck to animate, but we need them to be buddies. Remember, we have the lost Appa acr next season.

Script:

The acting is... fine. I just laughed when Aang turned to the camera and started to monologue about his personality, but that’s more on the script than on the actor. Speaking of which: oh god, please stop explaining every lore detail three times in expository dialogue. Sometimes, it's okay to tell not show (pacing, establishing worldbuilding, etc. It's why the cartoon intro exists!) but must you do it every time? And then repeat it??

Costume:

The score is obviously great, and the set design is good. Costume, makeup, and hair sometimes are iffy, but that’s because some things will never look good in live action. Yue will always look more like cosplay instead of a real person, I guess (I still think they could have just tried a very light blond wig or gotten an albino actress or something, but whatever). Wish Zuko's scar was looked more like a burn scar and less like a black eye. The clothes looked good, just a bit too "new" looking. Show me some dirt! They always look more conving when they get dirty and bloody.

They have points to improve upon, but overall, it's fun enough to watch on a weekend. But alas, the original is always better (not perfect, just better)

[textsfrombeybladers]

Kai’s first plot line in V-Force absolutely fascinates me and I feel like no one ever talks about it.

Here me out: Kai’s plot primarily involves his relationship with Wyatt and the grief he feels after losing him, but why? Sure, he believes himself at fault for his death, but have you ever noticed how strange Kai behaves during this period? The season goes out of its way to acknowledge that Kai has a tendency to just leave while his team is talking, never giving us a clear answer as to why. It’s literally never even brought up, even though the time is taken to show the audience that it’s happening. Kai is also the only one to genuinely appear affected by what happened during Wyatt’s battle with Dunga, enough where he not only begins to hallucinate, but also seems to have a rather genuine PTSD episode. If Tyson hadn’t yelled at him, he literally would have walked right off of the ledge of the beydish. If Wyatt died in Kai’s arms that day, why is he the only one having such a strong emotional reaction? Realistically, all of them would have some sort of trauma regarding seeing someone die and yet the rest of them never seem to even slow down afterward, let alone take time to mourn. It isn’t until Kai opens up during the tie match that Tyson seems to understand what sort of pain he’s in and yet, even as a typically emotional character, Tyson’s response is to smirk at him and accuse him of going soft, taking a minute to tease him instead of immediately acknowledging his pain. Tyson is one of the most emotional characters in the show, regularly allowing himself to cry in front of his friends and shown in seasons 2 and 3 to have anger issues. He should completely see where Kai is coming from, not tease him for it so why does he?

Because Wyatt was not originally supposed to die in Kai’s arms, he was supposed to be an implied love interest.

Let’s begin by discussing some tropes that were rather common during the early 2000s that Kai and Wyatt as a whole, or in some cases just Wyatt or just Kai, seem to fit into. The main one I want to discuss is known as the secondary love confession. This trope tends to involve a secondary character, usually of the same sex, essentially doing all but confess their love to a main character. In order to avoid the controversy of the relationship being canonically depicted as gay, this trope tends to be played in a way that instead depicts a budding friendship that before the confession, did not exist. Characters can either be depicted as enemies who suddenly need to confess they don’t hate each other, or a more cold character suddenly allowing their guard down in order for the person they’ve been originally pushing away to come into their life. Kai spends most of the scenes he has with Wyatt avoiding him. He does not want to talk to him, does not want to be his friend, and does not want him following him around. Yet when Wyatt comes back to him, Kai seems to have an oddly content relationship with him. He doesn’t say anything when Wyatt introduces himself as his friend, he does not appear annoyed at seeing him again and in fact, the way that it’s portrayed (primarily in the Japanese dub) it seems as though Kai does not want Wyatt to actually stop trying to become someone he views as worth his time in battle. He wants Wyatt to continue training, he wants him to come find him again someday, but it’s done in a very ‘Kai’ way. Furthermore, every other character on their team is also given a version of this trope! The only difference is that the remainder of the team is given this trope with a member of the opposite sex. Ray has a similar confrontation with Salima when he learns she does not want to continue working with Team PsyKick, Tyson has one while coming to terms with Hillary being a part of the team and being useful despite her lack of understanding regarding the sport as a whole and Max is given one while trapped with Miriam, proving to both her and himself that she is not their enemy. So is it a coincidence that Kai’s person who he needs to open up to in order to develop his character also happens to be a member of the same sex? Gay characters, especially before the 2010’s, have typically had to remain hidden, their sexuality merely implied instead of outright stated.

This brings me to my next trope, the one we all know as ‘bury your gays’. This is where is gets more complicated as I stated that I don’t believe Wyatt was intended to die in Kai’s arms, but I also don’t necessarily believe he was meant to live. This is a very well known trope in regards to gay characters and I won’t go into as much detail with it, but I do want to explain why I think it was thrown in at the last minute. As I explained before, Kai is regularly shown leaving during scenes where we see the team as a whole, not only that but the way the animation pans makes this very clear and obvious to the audience. Kai leaves, we’re directly shown this, yet it’s never acknowledged. So why does the show go out of the way to make this known to the viewer? Because Wyatt is not dead. At least not yet. During Kai’s final battle with Goki we are shown what’s believed to be Wyatt’s spirit guiding him, causing Kai to have hallucinations and flashbacks. Originally this hallucination is depicted as Wyatt in the Team Psykick uniform in a state of psychosis before changing to the Wyatt we know as an audience who insists to Kai that what happened to him is not his fault. This is our first instance of believing that Wyatt might no longer be alive. The one thing that strikes me as odd, though… if Wyatt died in Kai’s arms, why is he depicted in what seem to be either pajamas or hospital clothes? Not only that, but why do we suddenly get a flashback of Wyatt falling from something and holding out for Kai’s hand in an outfit we have never seen him in before? I know this may get me mocked, but I firmly believe that there was a plot line for an episode that was not made, and I believe that episode involves Kai visiting Wyatt in the hospital and something happening which causes Wyatt’s death. What this something is I can’t be sure, but one thing I do believe is that Kai is the only one who was there when Wyatt died and that his teammates do not know this. (Personally I’m still hoping for a more legit love confession but I understand that Beyblade avoids romantic relationships with the characters and instead only implies relationships or crushes, similar to how no one seems to know for sure if Ray and Mariah are dating or not). Had Tyson not known of Wyatt’s fate, his reaction to Kai makes more sense. He isn’t viewing Kai’s reaction as him mourning, he’s acknowledging that his emotionally constipated friend has developed his first crush.

This brings me to my last point, Kai leaving. This is the main reason that I believe Kai was visiting Wyatt in the hospital. Even if we didn’t necessarily have an entire episode showing a blossoming relationship between them, what if it was supposed to play out in smaller scenes where we followed Kai as he went to see him? Thus making it necessary to show the audience that he is walking away from his friends and going to do something on his own. There’s only one time we are ever given an explanation to where Kai goes when he wanders off and that’s during the scene where he’s laying on his back in the middle of the woods like the little weirdo we all know and love. This paragraph is going to be shorter than my other two because I’ve already explained this belief in a less drawn out way in a different paragraph and because I’m not being graded on this essay. Also I’ve been writing this for over an hour and I’m tired but can’t sleep until I get it out of my head and on paper (digital paper, that is).

In conclusion, it is my belief that Kai was intended to be portrayed as an early 2000s version of an openly queer character. Not only does he fit more than one trope from that time period but he also has several scenes that we are not offered explanation to, has what seems to be a PTSD episode that his teammates never acknowledge, but it also seems that his relationship with Wyatt was meant to play a larger roll in his overall character arch of that season. Ya boi is gay as hell and in love with a posh little brunette and ya essay author is tired and doesn’t actually wanna make this sound like an essay I would have written in school anymore. I will ship these two until the day I die and really hate that they’re of such little interest in the shipping fandom.

Kyatt 4ever

Peace out

[kyrodo]

I saw enemies where there were none. The way Kay responded to me when I made a post during the protests that infuriated her. Pointing out the video where an old white man was knocked over by a line of marching riot police was from what I saw, to be expected. Ideally yes, they should've moved him out of the way instead of shoving him to the ground as a show of force.

And some other points people brought up is "does it matter that the person knocked over was white or not?" or "it's the same protest." right. I noticed that it was gaining more traction than the videos of police brutality where they were firing into crowds at black people and I felt those videos should've been taking more interest because they show exactly what this protest is about. But the white guy that got knocked over walking straight into a line of marching police by himself was getting more views, likely because the view counts were from non-minorities and it affected them which in turn made them more concerned than everything else. Defunding the police and supporting black lives matter are similar causes, but one appeals to a wider audience. And that was what I thought.

So Kay's angry reaction was unexpected to say the least. And her responses were one sided and she clearly wasn't in the mood to listen to anything I had to say. And this struck a nerve. A nerve that I couldn't turn off. So during our move to utah, I expressed this anger constantly with images and reposts, at first just to be edgy I suppose, but it grew into a constant feeling that I couldn't turn off. And I felt like I was being mislabeled. Like I was taking the fall for a crime I didn't commit. All because Kay wouldn't listen to me. She was content in her own first impression judgments of what I said that she would not listen. And that deeply affected me. I saw enemies in my timeline.

Every little thing I read that was meant to be general I took personally, and during the protests angry posts were a dime a dozen. The entire internet was on fire and I was not in a mental or emotional state to handle it. Every little thing that either could be taken personally or was meant for someone else I would get offended by. There were so many posts that directed hate at someone, and sometime I'd get mad at them even when they weren't even remotely pointed at me. The fact that someone wouldn't know whether I was their enemy or not is why. The fact that people knew nothing about me but my username is why. So I felt judged constantly. I felt like everybody was on a witch hunt for something. And I had a few things (the "content' I'm into) that some people would be concerned about and had 0 tolerance no matter how far it goes.

So I expressed constant aggressiveness towards my followers in response. My counterplay was premature aggressiveness. So no matter what people learn about me I would already be ahead of the game. And I tried so hard to be upfront about all the worst parts about me even before we started to interact. So anyone who would turn hostile because of it would get it over with and fuck off. I was on the warpath against my own timeline and it all started because of Kay, what would've been in most circumstances a simple argument I should've just been able to get over and move on.

And so comes you. Who eventually turned into the main focus of my rants. The sea of hostile posts on my timeline was vicious enough I started blocking people one by one that I couldn't mentally handle anymore. And I stopped at you mainly because you were a mutual who would be on late at night like I was a lot. And recognized as a fellow furry who was mutuals during back when me and Red played overwatch. I of course didn't think you were a console player. I didn't normally run into the issue of someone having console over pc for a game since Kitsunary was the person I normally played with. I assumed everyone got games on steam.

I made that mistake when I got dbd. So I had to get the game again on Playstation since I didn't know it could crossplay. But I didn't have a tv yet to even play the playstation on, and Kitsunary leant her old ps4 to me back when we moved to San Jose, which was the last place we were at before Utah for a year or two. I didn't use the ps4 during the entire time we were there because we had no place to hook it up to. The addition of my computer desktop to the room we stayed in took up all the outlets in addition to the google home stuff that was there, and there was nowhere to put the tv plug, which I would've used to play. And it was a small room where our futon took up the entire walkable floor save the short walkway in front of the door and my desk as well. So there was nowhere to put the ps4 either save the mattress or carpet which also made it not viable.

And the main reason is that I heavily prefer my pc over the console in most cases. I have easy access to discord and the twitter browser, and have the comfort of typing with a keyboard. So it's easier for me, especially when typing my thoughts on twitter was so chronic. I wanted to be able to post easily while playing. I didn't have a laptop to make that easier. Steam games are better for me cause I still have the choice of using a controller regardless of if I'm on console or not. The only time console is better is for exclusives and standard hardware that reduces the occurence of compatibility issues and crashes. And graphical issues if any would at least be the same across devices, and developers design around that. I'm also just used to alt tabbing a lot.

The ps4 I got from Kitsunary was the one she had for a good long while, before she replaced it with a different edition ps4. So it had seen a good deal of use before I got it. And when I finally decided to try it, trying to play a disc game on it failed, with wierd clicking noises as it tried to load the disc. I didn't know at the time I could just buy games digitally on it. I'd done it with the switch but not the ps4.

I was hopeful when we got the tv that I could get it to work, but things didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. But I suppose at this point that's already been cleared up and it's a non-issue now. Though a non-issue that may have stopped everything else that happened.

And that is why I'm really happy I got into vrchat. I no longer have to worry about just being text on a screen. People can hear me, hear my background noise, etc., and all those doubts that may have generated distrust against me back then disappear, even when I'm a rando. And such situations will never happen to me again. I can't be friends with someone who doesn't trust me or won't even give it a chance. I won't allow anyone to ever treat me the same way you once treated me. Especially with Red being a mortal voice instead of an account with a lock symbol on it on twitter. People understand he very much exists and still exists so people would be discouraged heavily from trying anything if it came down to it.

When I'm angry I make angry posts on tumblr or twitter or something, or I'll type angrily on stepmania or a similar game. When Red's angry, he will find a way to turn that anger into action and he doesn't pull his punches. He is a respectable responsible tact-minded being almost to a fault, moreso than most people you'll meet. But he makes it a point not to piss him off, and nothing pisses him off more than someone actively inflicting harm on me.

I've said a lot of things. Out of confusion. Out of passive aggressive disbelief that people would act as ambiguous as you did for that long. Out of desperation because of my heart. Out of anger because of the Kay thing leaving a lasting wound under my skin. Or out of not knowing what to do with my feelings whether or not you were for me or not. Out of fear wondering if the path I was taking would lead me to losing Red. But nothing I did deserved what I was dealt.

[tired-demonspawn]

netflix avatar episode 5-8!

(i binged the rest of it in one go)

funky lil thoughts on a funky lil show :)

fair warning i'm going to shit on it a lot for the majority of this post but dont be fooled into thinking i hated it, i just like to nitpick in long spanning paragraphs.

okay we are fully fully going into doing their own thing territory in episode 5 and somewhat episode 6, i tried and failed multiple times to guess which episodes are they going to do and it turned out they only took the base ideas from them and almost fully did their own thing. aside from the blue spirit bits

i actually think its nice, they were shaving the episode count to the point where they only mentioned some episodes, which i can just feel deep in my bones someone already getting mad about, but i think its fine that they did it this way. they make a little remix of it. :)

koh was creepy as shit man fr i hated the 2 jumpscares god almighty. it was awesome. i didnt like the weird cgi for his face, but i got used to it eventually. i think it was certainly a choice to have him appear in ep 5 instead of how they learn of the spirits. they changed his mechanics, apparently he can just???? steal faces??? whenever???? they make it a food thing instead of a "lmao i wanna impress my mom so imma steal the faces she makes"

also mother of faces mention! ...not smething i expected thats for sure. and the fog of lost souls too.

they make kuruk pick up his slack fr, did not expect that.

i love in episode 6 that zuko and aang are forced to interact, that they have to talk to each other and in a certain way influence each other, give both a lil bit to think about beyond "if we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends?"

i really dont like that zuko fights back in the agni kai, makes the shit ozai did i lil less impactfull, little less brutal in the audiences eyes i think. the execution style burn he got in the cartoon was more caroonishly evil, yes, but it also showed more of zuko's character yknow? he refused to fight out of principle, he was loyal, he was "the perfect fire nation citizen" and yet that wasnt good enough.

also we got robbed of "you will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher", which is kinda wild considering how many of the shows lines got put in verbatim. they felt so strongly about pippinpaddleopsikopolis the third that they used it somewhere else when they didnt use it in omashu. but this iconic line couldnt make it in?

I also dislike this version of him speaking out, this is the first time we are hearing of an agni kai, since zhao and zuko didn’t go at it. We don’t know what it is we haven’t been introduced to it, so it being invoked now means nothing to the audience.

And i don’t think the slight was big enough for ozai to justify a duel with a child. Like before he was supposed to be quiet and his outburst was a) disruptive b) immediate upon hearing the plan c) defended the soldiers themselves, “those soldiers love and defend our nation, how can you betray them” but now its about the honor of the officers which I don’t think has as big an impact. Plus I think its actually a less “egregious” position from ozai’s side yknow? In the first version he not only defended the lives of the soldiers but said the council was betraying them in doing what they were doing. Here he just said they deserve to die better than that. Sure cartoon ozai would’ve fucked him up for less, but this ozai? This ozai who invited him to the meeting? Who asked his opinion? Who actually acknowledges that him finding the avatar was impressive? No shot he invokes an agni kai over this.

was the bit about being impressed just for the sake of fucking with azula? yeah. but imma get to that later.

live action zuko and cartoon zukos are 2 different people, which while i respect, from the stance that the showmakers are doing their own thing, i also think caroon zuko was always good. he was always peaceful, always kind. its just he got that shit beaten outta him and he compensates by being angry. this zuko is less kind, more honour bound. which is ironic considering which one of the two was constantly talking about his honor. not that he isnt kind at all, but i think we got robbed of some of the character moments he had in the show.

as much as i love the ending of ep 6 where the 41st salute him(love that they made his crew the 41st btw), i would've liked to actually see the scene from The Storm, where he gives up on the hunt for the avatar for the sake of his crew's safety. he has these moments on his own, in irohs presence, but i do think we needed to see the crew also have this.

but they add new character moments! like the recovering post agni kai, being told of his banishment. absolutely god-tier scene. and the little moment with iroh after zhao takes away aang. very nice scene, i actually like that he already has treason on the mind. episode 6 is by far my favourite. did i know it was gonna be my favourite even before starting this show because my favourite book 1 episode is the blue spirit? yeah. but i dont think that diminishes anything.

now. ozai. my mans. mr god-sculpted cheekbones. conceptually im fine with him fucking with everyone, but i am ashamed to admit that it took zhao spelling it out for the audience for me to get that thats what he was doing. i was 100% convinced he was sincere, that he had just wanted the best heir to the throne of the glorious fire nation or something. and while i am tempted to say that that is on my dumb ass for being stupid, i actually want to blame the show a little bit, because where do we see that he's not sincere? nowhere. he's not cruel to zuko, he seems to mean it when he speaks with azula about him finding the avatar, he gives no indication to the audience that what he says to him about the whole toughing up the spirit with banishment isnt sincere. he comes across as a deeply abusive father that however at the end of the day wants his children to be the best but goes about it in the most horrific ways.

maybe that's what they were going for? a master manipulator that plays his own twisted little game noone but himself is privy to, but on the surface it seems like he cares in his twisted little way? im trying very hard to look at this without the cartoon lense, but its so unbelievably hard.

for a show that usually spoonfeeds stuff like this throughout their runtime its wild that they would decide to go "here comes the airplane" this "late"

ah now i see where all of sokkas cartoony sexism fled, it went to pakku. that's so whack. his character wasnt that good to begin with but you further masacre him.

mans says himself water is the element of change, so i thought oh alright his eventual training of katara is gonna be that much nicer if he already has this down. i mean i was fine with them not doing the neclace thing, it was kinda cheesy in the show anyway, but i was expecting that turnaround due to the students. i wanted to see pakku go "mmm yes perhaps i could teach you a thing or two" after he sees his students enamored with her skill.

also what was yagodas turnaround? she was just as much into the tradition as pakku was, but suddenly she's on katara's side? all the other women are too? sure okay.

also katara didnt need to be entirely self taught, come the fuck on, she loses to pakku the same way but suddenly with no further training shes takin down zuko, shes a commander of them other waterbenders.

being entirely self taught is nice and all, but there are just certain things you dont figure out on your own. i speak from experience on this, yeah sure i can draw some guy on my own, but even a short 3 week course taught me so much more in terms of composition, perspective, camera shots, things you wouldnt even think about because they just don't come to mind as even being relevant. its that way for everything. there are just certain dots that can only be connected with the guide of someone else.

now i have to mention something that kinda bothered me by the end: in avatar: book 1 - water(although to be fair i dont think it was marketed as such) the avatar... doesnt learn waterbending. the only thing he did with water was the giant koi and well that doesnt really count does it, that was la being angry at zhao for killing tui. speaking of: i wanted to see la get the W, i wanted to see zhao taken by the glowy sea. i wanted to see zuko reach out to him, despite them being enemies.

also they take away irohs part in the restoring of balance which i think nicely foreshadowed him being a white lotus member. yeah yeah it was to make yue's sacrifice more her own choice but i really wanted him to be at least present.

onto more positive stuff i actually like a lot of the changes made to yue. makes her not just be that one random girl at the end of book one that got turned into the moon, it was yue, this actual person with dreams and motivations that sacrificed herself for the good of the world.

was the character that got added to her written kinda badly? yeah. but does that negate my point? i hope not.

i was kinda on the fence with the removal of the betrothal thingy and making hahn a decent guy, but eh... it grew on me. however it did raise a question... how old is everyone? cuz she called off the marriage at 16, but she was 16 in the show, it certainly isnt a fresh wound or hahn wouldn't've been that chill with it. im thinking 2 years, that seems about right, for the actors too. yeah i can believe aang is 14 and zuko 18, id buy that.

perhaps their canonical age is somewhere but i sure as hell dont know where.

but that train of thought did kinda answer the fact that sokka went ice dodging. i was super confused about that. but if everythings the same, just the timeline is shifted 2 years then yeah he would go ice dodging. ofc that opens the other can of worms of why didnt he go fight in the war with them if he underwent the fuckin uhhh maturity test? was it because he failed just that spectacularly? fuck if i know. i dont think the show knows either.

as a more overall thing i dont like aangs dialogue, its a more broad issue. He just doesnt seem like a kid yknow? Like even katara and sokka are more childish, they act like children who had to grow up too fast, but aang didnt have to grow up too fast, he should be forced to grow up within the span of the series. Not be the most downer adult one of them. Especially with that he said to bumi in episode 4 about solvin shit like a kid

but okay. that was mega negative goddamn.

for my closing thoughts id like to say that i really enjoyed the show. and look forward to season 2. i like the little remix of the mythos they've got goin on and i wanna see how they continue that into book 2 and hopefully book 3.

it tries to do something original, it is an adaptation after all. if you dont like it you can still watch the cartoon series, but this is a nice lil alternate version of it and i wont say that i dont like it. do i have my nitpics? sure. is the dialogue mediocre? hell yeah. but i want to see where it goes next. :)

very cool series, overall like a 7 outta 10? masks(ep 6) is the best episode, its prbly the only one id rewatch on my own without friends.

thanks for reading :)

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

Kokichi in the Death Game

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Kz9lEcG

by Anonymous

It's just Kokichi in the YTTD universe after he dies in V3, I regret making this so much

Sorry it's bad, I just did this in 2021/2022 as just smthing to pass time so

I will NOT be continuing this, feel free to take the idea because I hate it a LOT

ATTENTION YTTD FANS: WHY HAVENT ANY OF U MADE A MIDORI LIVES AU AND GOES TO THE DEATH GAME???? ITS SUCH A GREAT IDEAA!!!! Like wasn't he supposed to participate, but then he couldn't bc of his death? There NEEDS to be a fanfic with that idea. There NEEDSS to be a fanfic with him in the game w/ Shin, him interacting with the participants and stuff. It'd be so so Interesting so see him as one of the participants. Please YTTD fans, please I NEED this to happen.... Or if it already has happened, PLEASE TELL MEWHERE I COULD FIND IT BC I NEED IT SO BADD and I tried writing it myself but I suckk 😭

Words: 10147, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: キミガシネ | Kimi ga Shine | Your Turn To Die (Visual Novel), New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Gen

Characters: Oma Kokichi, Chidouin Sara, Hiyori Sou | Tsukimi Shin, Kizuchi Kanna, Burgerberg Q-taro, Mishima Kazumi (Kimi ga Shine), Egokoro Nao, Yabusame Reko, Satou Kai, Shinogi Keiji, Tazuna Joe, Ibushi Gin

Additional Tags: Crossover

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Kz9lEcG

[did-we-imagine]

That's some very good meta, and I do agree with the majority of lt. However, I also think it was fucked up in that Iroh ended up a prisoner at Ozai's mercy (which in a show aimed at an older audience would probably have resulted in his execution) which is something that fans also fault Azula for in S2 when she comes to bring them home. (My personal 2 cts)

I 200% support what you said about Iroh being too passive and not direct enough with Zuko. I did wonder whether it was because Zuko idolized Ozai so much he would end up rejecting Iroh, but he didn't even quite take any chances if only to see where he stood and whether he could be reasoned with or not. Especially when Zuko ended up in such a situation because he questioned Ozai (through his rejecting the general's plan!), and also his talk with Zhao where he says that his father is a fool for thinking that the world would willingly follow him.

I also believe that them never addressing the Agni Kai's circumstances (because let's be real, while the majority of the fandom likes to consider Iroh a saint for dealing with S1 Zuko, i am pretty sure that the real reason he stands by him isn't so much saintly patience as much as it's guilt for not saving him from Ozai during the Agni Kai). I'm gonna get lots of hate (despite the fact that I really do love Iroh, and his relationship with Zuko), but Iroh has acted as an enabler* -no matter how unwitting- and also miscalculated when he allowed him to join the war room. This particular point reminds me of a person I know in real life. They're perfectly nice and all, but their passivity has made way for an abusive person to unleash their toxicity.

I'm not saying that it's Iroh's fault that Ozai is an unhinged child abuser, but that he could have taken a stand and done something in a diplomatic way or at least minimized the risks for Zuko. I also think that this is why Zuko doesn't seem to fully trust him in S1, because in Zuko's mind, the cryptic hedonistic old man was neither willing to save his ass when Ozai fried his face (or at least validate him for opposing such a plan...Because the fact that Zuko is willing to go back to the asshat who fried his face for not wanting to use soldiers as bait not only means that he doesn't see that what was done to him was wrong, but that he thinks he was wrong for wanting to save them and accessorily going against Ozai), nor is he helping him "own up" his fuck-up to go back home. I don't want to go into details, but it reminds me of my personal experience, it feels like he isn't helping at all because of these mixed messages, no matter how involuntary. And honestly, while I understand that Iroh was heartbroken from Lu Ten's death, if he and the white lotus were a little bit more proactive and he tried to get back his throne, if only for the world's sake -because innocents were being harmed and if Aang is gonna be faulted for running away at 12, then all the more the reason to judge Iroh for it!!!!-, then many bad things wouldn't have happened.

Of course, the reason why I don't like criticizing him too much is that because the plot needed all of these events to move forward (it's as if the writers had an idea, but the problem is that it was somewhat too contrived at times and ended up not making as much sense as they would have wished because they would make things up on the go at the same time), and that Iroh was not meant to be what he ended up as + even Zuko was only there because they figured out that Ozai couldn't chase Aang himself as thr king of an imperialistic super power. Iroh was supposed to be a mole working for Ozai and slowing back Zuko, rather than the dethroned crown prince uncle fuddy-duddy who genuinely cares.

I hope this shit makes sense because english is my 3rd language so I worry my grammar or the way I write doesn't do my ideas justice (not that they are particularly stellar).

PS: *= enablers in real life don't have to be monsters or to agree that the abuse is rightful, they just have to be passive enough, no matter how right or wrong their reasons are, for it to happen, while supposedly having the power to stop it (NB: to the folks who are blaming Azula for Ozai's abuse, well...I hate to break it to you, but Iroh holds more responsibility in stopping it than she, a child, no matter how mean-spirited or competitive she was, actually did and this is very very very important for those of you who like to think about how Azula should have killef Ozai/intervened in the Agni Kai blah blah blah). Talking from personal experience, not gonna go into details.

On Zuko apologizing to Iroh

So I'm probably in the extremely low majority here, but I honestly don't think that Zuko should of had to apologize to Iroh for the choice he made back in Ba Sing Se at all.

The two of them were at sea for three years. During those three years, Zuko only wanted one thing: to return home and restore his honor. To get Ozai's praise and love. Iroh knew this. However, Iroh also knew how much of a bad person Ozai was at this point. I mean, he literally watched him burn half of his son's face. And yet he never tried to persuade Zuko that Ozai wasn't worth it, and that going back to him would do more harm than good. Especially once the two of them were on the run? That would have been the perfect time to get it into Zuko's head. To try and convince him that there was a better path than the one they were currently on. But Iroh never does this. He just continues to feed into Zuko's desire to return home.

Iroh, how exactly was Zuko supposed to just know what the correct way was when you, the only adult with him, never tried to tell him what it was? At least not in a way that made any sense to Zuko? Living in the Earth Kingdom and serving tea wasn't what Zuko wanted at that point. That wasn't the path for him. And yet Iroh tried to force it on him. So I honestly can't even blame Zuko for choosing what he did in the end. Azula gave him a clear path to return home with her, which was the path that he wanted. The path that Iroh gave to Zuko was unclear. The last thing you want to do is walk on a path that you can't see.

[peanutpinet]

Hii i don’t know if your requests are open but this idea came to my head and now i can’t let it go awwghh. I’m glad to have found someone who writes for yuzuru *^* So. The context is Y/N’s last competition before retiring, at the gala she gives a speech and gets all emotional. Without knowing that behind her back a sneaky yuzu approached with a surprise. An engagement ring! Ajdbkdk i hope you can work with this it’d be an honor!

Wholesome Yuzuru Hanyu request :"

A/n: Hi, yes, I do accept requests though I may be slow on them since I'm currently doing an intern. I would definitely try my best to write as best as I could :)

Pairings: Yuzu x female skater

Warnings: a bit emotional but fluff!!

A/N: for the how many time, I dunno why but for some reason, I just see this in a bullet form; hope you won't hate it :" kay onto the fanfic

First and foremost, let's establish your relationship first

Basically, the two of you have known each other since you debuted in your senior level

Essentially, Yuzu was your senpai and you have always looked up to him

Yuzu, on the other hand, did notice your senior debut but because he was a very busy man, the two of you only ever interacted during competitions (and that is if you guys went to the same competition)

But do not fret because the universe slowly brought you both together

Short story was that the both of you were supposed to head back after practice one time when the both of you missed your bus back to the hotel and ended up having to find your way back to the hotel together

Throughout the adventure back to the hotel, the two of you started to talk more and got to know each other better; and basically the rest is history

Time skip to your last competition

You have been a senior for 7 years at this point and figured that you have tried so many competitions (from GPF to Worlds and even the chance to join the Olympics) and figured that it's time to close this chapter of your life and move on

It was the day of the exhibition of your final competition and throughout the day, your mind has been reciting the speech you made since you finished your competition

Everyone was so sweet and knew that it was your final competition and exhibition that they kept sending messages, gifts and texts; however, there was no news from Yuzu

You tried not to overthink about anything and just enjoyed yourself with your fellow skaters

Throughout the exhibition, you definitely bring out your best self; being fully immersed in your performance until the very end of the exhibiton

At the end of the exhibition, just like past skaters who were going to retire, a fellow skater brought a mic and some flowers for you as the spotlight was mainly shine on you

Throughout your speech, you started getting emotionally and just couldn't held back the tears; wanting to pull yourself and finish your speech so you could cry as much as you'd like on Yuzu's shoulder

But, someone thought otherwise ;)

Nearing the end of your speech, there was a huge clap from both the audience and your fellow skaters when suddenly there was a different genre of music of playing

Confused, you looked around to see what was happening but you couldn't comprehend any form of words coming out of your mouth for what you witnessed

Yuzu had changed his outfit into a suit-like outfit, brought you your favourite flowers, and pulled you out of the hug of the skaters to the center

What happened next definitely made you think that this was all a dream from a fanfic you've read because Yuzu was having his own little speech about how you've changed his perspective in life, how you made him feel so many different emotions he has never felt before and suddenly the man was on one knee, making you and basically everyone in the stadium gasped in shock

And the next few words and actions Yuzu does say everything on what's happening

"(Y/N). I know this may seem rushed since we've only really been together for 3 years but honestly, I can't imagine what my life would be if the both of us didn't miss that bus. It may sound cheesy and cringe, but for reals, you make my life more colourful, being with you is just one surprise after the other and what I'm saying is that, no matter what, I know that you're the one. And I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with someone else. So, (Y/N), would you marry me?" Yuzu spoke, pulling out a simple yet beautiful rose gold ring

"Yuzu...you must be out of your mind if you think I wouldn't say yes. Like, I'd say yes more than you jump the 3A. Of course I would!!" you shouted, all the tears you held back finally burst

Without wasting any time, Yuzu stood back up, put the ring onto your finger, pulling you close and sealing the night with a kiss

"I love you" - the both of you whispered to each other as the background excitement slowly faded into the kiss

A/N: brb, I dunno why I became emotional when writing this T_T I hope you enjoy this short one-shot I did. Also, to everyone who wants to request anything about Yuzu, NCT or 9%, feel free to message me or drop a request in my inbox!! See y'all in the next one and take care everyone :) xoxo

[ribbonsfallaway]

I have a love/hate relationship with this show.

On one hand I love this idea of exploring Johnny more who didn't get that much development in TKK, though I feel like near the end you can sympathize, and see he's not exactly the problem. It's Kreese.

Still I love the idea of exploring his character more, and his trauma, and his POV. It makes him more developed as a character.

What I hate about this show hoever is in doing so they basically try to make Daniel the antagonist in the first couple seasons or so, but the way they write him is... If you've seen all 3 of TKK films his behavior makes a lot of sense. If you haven't seen it, then he comes off as an arrogant prick. And even if you have seen the first 3 movies... His character is hard to understand unless you have fresh knowledge of what went down. Mainly the 3rd movie.

The writers basically won't explore Daniel's trauma to make the audience understand why he acts the way he does, because his anti-Cobra Kai stance is not arrogant or being holier than thou. It's trauma from knowing first hand what Cobra Kai is capable of because they did it to him. Not just the bullying but luring him in and earning his trust with a scenario of manipulated events, ad then broke him down when he was lured in, and tried to break him down more after he realized what was happening. Really looking at what happened in TKK3 as a whole is a lot to unpack.

However the writers are too focused on exploring Johnny's trauma that they literally use it to excuse all his actions in the series. Even being a deadbeat father to his son.

They explore the trauma of Kreese and Silver who I'm sorry are villains if you ask me over Daniel's.

They barely respect Daniel's character, and it's unfortunate since he was the star of the trilogy this show is supposed to be a spin off of. His charcter deserves more respect, and more exploration. Because I understand his character, but fans who haven't seen the first 3 films don't, and the writers did this on purpose, and it's frustrating.

[juniorgman187]

Things We Know By Heart (Spencer Reid Fluff)

Summary: Reader teaches Spencer how to slow dance in preparation for his wedding. The only problem? Reader’s in love with Spencer, and she isn’t the bride. 

A/N: S/O to Kyla who bullied me throughout all of elementary school. Ik you’ve probably changed since then, but you literally traumatized and tormented me for more than six years of my life. So I felt like including you in this story as, “Kayla,” Spencer’s fiancé. Tehe, I’m petty like that.  Couple: Fem!Reader x Spencer Reid Category: Fluff Word Count: 6.5k

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

I think we’d all like to believe that somewhere out there is our person. And somehow, someway, they’ll get to where they need to go, right where they belong. 

With us. 

That’s what I’d like to believe. 

I’d like to think that no matter what happens along our journeys to each other, we’ll arrive at the same destination regardless. 

But that isn’t necessarily true, is it? 

Because maybe, my soulmate got lost along the way. They met somebody great, someone they think is their person, and they married that person. They had kids and eventually, grandkids with that person, even though, deep down - they knew it wasn’t right. They stayed with them anyway because their fear of being alone superseded their fear of being with the wrong person for life. 

And what am I to do when that happens? When my person finds a different person. 

Am I supposed to believe that the universe will be so kind as to give my soulmate the courage to leave their relationship behind and forge a new one with me? 

Am I supposed to expect that the world will supply me with another person, the person I’m supposed to marry? 

Or do I simply wait for my person to come to the conclusion that they’re meant to be with me after all and my naive entitlement to a soulmate is validated?

Is life really that magical? 

This is the story of what happens when your person loves a different person.

∙•○⦾☉☼☉⦾○•∙

With his hand at the nape of my neck to support my head and his other hand flat against the small of my back, he dipped me backward, leaning with me as I arched my back and bent the leg closest to the crowd, pointing my foot to elongate my leg artistically. This was our ending position so I remained in it until the song ended. The two of us bowed to thank the audience and to conclude our performance. Roses fell at our feet while the sound of applause echoed in the room. I was never a fan of being the center of attention, but there was something about this overwhelming praise that was particularly blissful. It was intoxicating. 

“I didn’t know you knew how to dance like that.” I gushed to my partner; my cheeks growing pink from the heat and the head rush I got. 

He positioned his mouth right beside my ear so I could hear his words clearly over the rowdy cheering. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Princess.” said Morgan.

A gauntlet formed to clap for us both when we walked off the dance floor. Hand-in-hand, Morgan led me back to the table through the double file line of people. The team howled with excitement when they saw me and Morgan approaching.

“So this is what you two were keeping a secret from us? That you’re dance partners?” JJ had to ask. 

“Yep. All those late nights and secret rendezvous.” Morgan said, shimmying his shoulders be suggestive of a sexual innuendo, which I was not a fan of. Out of mock offense, I chucked a small towel at him with a grouchy command to “Shut up!” 

He took the towel to the face like a champ, laughing it off and dabbing his sweat away. 

“I don’t know who was sexier up there - Princess or my Hubba Hubba!” Garcia squealed pretending to claw at Derek, reeling him over towards her. 

“You looked like a natural up there, Y/N. Were you a dancer before?” Prentiss questioned while handing me a glass of water that I desperately gulped down. 

“My mom sent me to dance classes as soon as I could walk.” I jokingly explained after gathering my hair into a makeshift ponytail and lifting it off of my neck, cocking my head to the side and fanning the back of my neck to cool down. 

“Maybe you should teach Reid how to dance before the wedding. He’s got two left feet and I don’t think he wants Morgan to teach him how to waltz.” JJ quipped, making Derek throw his head back in laughter. The thought of Morgan and Reid slow dancing would truly be something - something hilarious. I laughed, too, until Reid’s voice interrupted me.

“Yeah, that’s actually a really good idea. Would you mind, Y/N? Kayla would be so happy.” 

I thought he was joking, but his humorless expression told me otherwise. 

“You want me to teach you how to dance?” 

He pursed his lips and nodded, not understanding why I was so confused. 

“Um . . . yeah. I can do that. Sure.” My tone wasn’t very convincing, but Reid’s optimism made him oblivious to my reluctance. He smiled and hugged me with one arm around my shoulder. 

“I have to call Kay and tell her the good news.” Reid dashed away from the table, pulling out his phone to dial his fiancé. 

I darted toward JJ with fury and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her into the bathroom for privacy. 

“What the hell was that? ‘Oh, Y/N, you should teach him how to dance.’ You know how I feel about Reid!” 

Rather than giving me hostility back, she broke into a smile. “Exactly! If you spend more time alone with him, maybe he’ll finally admit to himself that he shouldn’t be marrying Kayla,”

I rolled my eyes and turned my back away from her. 

“We all know Spence would be happier with you.” 

As JJ spoke, I trudged to the nearest sink, holding onto the sides for stability as the ground below me swayed. She followed me, rubbing up and down my back comfortingly. 

“You know how he is. He keeps things to himself, until eventually they’re forced to come out. If you dance with him, maybe he’ll finally tell you he loves you without actually having to say it. Do this for him . . . and for you.” JJ gave me one last pat on the back before exiting the bathroom to leave me to my devices.

Normally, teaching a friend how to slow dance in preparation for his wedding would be sweet. It’d be a selfless gesture and an act of service for him that would show how much love there was in our friendship. In this case though, it was anything but. 

For the six months that Spencer and Kayla had been engaged, the team was relentless in trying to end it. I tried to stay out of it in case all hell broke loose, but I couldn’t escape it. No - I was at the very center of it. 

Before Reid even knew Kayla existed, he was head-over-heels in love with me. He’d ask me on coffee dates, wait by my desk for me, and he would always try to sit beside me at the round table or on the jet. It was sweet, really, but it could never go anywhere. 

I was in a committed relationship with my high school sweetheart Patrick. (Maybe Spencer had a thing for unavailable girls).

I moved in with Patrick after graduating from college, and after years of working in the BAU (and years of Spencer loving me) Pat proposed. At first, being engaged brought me so much joy, but halfway into our engagement, something changed.

I was in Wisconsin, consoling a grieving widow. She was hysterical after I delivered the treacherous news of her husband’s gruesome murder. She eventually calmed down and proceeded to ask me about my engagement when she noticed my ring. I gave her the bare minimum, fabricated a couple things here and there, but then she asked me the million dollar question. 

“Are you in love?” Her eyes glimmered with hope. 

My immediate answer was a habitual “Yes, of course.” But after seeing how deeply this widow loved her late husband, I couldn’t say in good conscience that that answer was actually true. 

That night I went to the hotel and lied on the bed, praying for clarity. 

Perhaps I wasn’t actually in love with Patrick. Maybe we’d been together for so long that it just felt safe and comfortable and familiar. Maybe it was the fear of disrupting the arrangement of my life that stopped me from ending things sooner. 

The fact of the matter was that I’d only ever known a life loving him, but that didn’t mean I was in love with him. Maybe I was settling for something with Pat, because I wasn’t sure if I could have a better relationship with anyone else. With all these doubts, I needed a sign. 

A knock on the door interrupted my inner dialogue. 

When I opened it, who else was standing there, but none other than Rossi.

“We need to talk.” He ordered. 

He followed me back into the room and sat at the foot of the bed. He said he noticed something was off about me, and I admitted that there was. So that night, I took advice I probably shouldn’t have from the man with multiple failed marriages, but it was a sign - and it was good enough.

When we returned to Quantico, I asked Hotch for some personal time, which he was happy to permit. That same night I went home and broke off the engagement with Patrick. 

I felt despicably cold when I watched him tear up and ask me, “Why are you doing this?” 

There was truly no concrete moment in our relationship that incited my decision, but it was merely the realization that being with him wasn’t right, because how could I stand there watching him beg for a change of heart but still feel nothing? 

Maybe I was much less than not in love. Maybe I didn’t feel a thing for him at all. Not hate. Not empathy. Not love. Just . . . nothing. 

Completely indifferent. 

Within the week of personal time I took, I spent most of it moving into Rossi’s guest house. After I came back from work, it took all of two hours before someone brought up the absence of the ring that I used to never take off, and I’d assumed they’d already noticed it the moment I walked in - they were just too afraid to ask.

“I ended things with Patrick.” I casually stated, not even looking up from my portfolio to give it the attention it probably deserved. 

While the rest of the team’s jaws dropped on the floor, Rossi was fighting a smirk considering this wasn’t news to him and having seen everyone else’s reactions was a priceless moment for him. 

There was a brief moment of awkward silence on the jet as the team processed my information, until finally Hotch cleared his throat and started debriefing again. In the seat next to me, Spencer was very poorly hiding his enthusiasm. Hearing I broke off the engagement was like a green light to make his move. And honestly, it was. 

So I waited. 

And I waited. 

And I waited. 

Then I waited some more for him to jump at the opportunity. 

But he didn’t. 

He never did. 

Instead, he introduced Kayla into our lives, and eventually, they’d get engaged, too. 

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t developed feelings for Spencer while I expected him to act upon his palpable affection for me. And because of my newfangled feelings, I could never tell another soul that I sincerely believed Spencer got engaged just to spite me - to show me just how painful unrequited love was. 

The strangest part of it all, though, was that there was never a moment following the ending of my engagement and the birth of his own that showed me that his feelings went away. He never treated me differently or stopped talking to me. Even in the early stages of his relationship with Kayla, he continued to act like I was the only girl in his life. He was so consistent with his actions that it confused me.

Did he love me or not? And was I in love with him or not?

Evidently, the team seemed to have my answer. 

“He loves you and you love him. It’s as simple as that.” Prentiss explained curtly. 

Agreeing nods came from JJ, Morgan, and Garcia, who’d abducted me as soon as I exited the elevator that morning and snuck me into Garcia’s Bat Cave for an intervention. 

“We need to stop this wedding.” Garcia demanded. 

And since that glorious intervention, the team (minus Rossi and Hotch because Rossi seemed genuinely happy for Reid, and Hotch would definitely tell us it wasn’t our place) began trying to put a wedge in the relationship. I, however, made the smart choice not to be involved. 

If I was trying to get him to love me, why would I do something that would surely make him hate me like breaking up his engagement? Plus, the blind optimist in me believed that if I was actually meant to be with Spencer, it would happen regardless of Kayla. 

So anytime Morgan, JJ, Prentiss, and Garcia suggested something, I refused to participate. I was able to steer clear of any wedding crasher shenanigans up until JJ’s “slow-dance” suggestion. 

If Reid knew the true intentions behind these dance classes, he surely wouldn’t be pleased, but clearly - he didn’t. Because when I walked out of the restroom and back to the table, Reid still had a huge grin that took up half of his face, making his eyes look nearly shut. 

“Thank you again for doing this.” Reid beamed. 

“Of course! What are friends for?” 

Morgan, Prentiss, JJ, and Garcia exchanged satirical glances at my choice of words. 

What are friends for if not to purposefully set two people up in hopes of ending one person’s betrothal?

∙•○⦾☉☼☉⦾○•∙

Later that weekend . . 

“Come in!” I called out, buckling the ankle strap of my heels. 

The door opened partially and then all at once to reveal the one and only. I peeked my head out from behind a wall that was obstructing my view of him, immediately noticing a bouquet of lavender wrapped in twine. 

“Oh my goodness, what is this?” I asked in pure delight as he handed me the pretty purple flowers. 

“It’s a thank-you gift for agreeing to help me.” His lips formed a thin straight line, which was his version of a smile. A smile I appreciated whenever I was lucky enough to have caused it. 

“They’re lovely, thank you.” I told him, hugging him briefly before fetching a vase from the kitchen to put them in.

“Oh, good, I’ll tell Kayla you liked them. She’s the one who picked them out.”

The glass vase nearly shattered the moment he said that, but luckily, my reflex skills spared the vessel.

How big of a fool was I for thinking that he gave me flowers out of the kindness of his heart because he knew lavender was my favorite? But then again I probably needed that brutal reminder of why he was here in the first place - for Kayla.

As I put the vase on the kitchen island, I spun around, brandishing a fake smile. 

“So we should probably get started. I don’t wanna keep you here for too long.” 

“There’s no rush. Kayla won’t be home until late at night.” 

I tried not to think of the potential innuendo that lied within his statement, but Spencer wasn’t type to be disloyal, and I wasn’t going to be the woman to make him such a person.

“You look really nice, by the way.” I heard him say from behind me, catching a whiff of his cologne that was intoxicatingly sweet.

I did my best to not take the comment personally and let it get to my head, but I’d be lying if it didn’t elicit any response. I smiled to myself, which thankfully, he couldn’t see since my back was towards him as he followed me into my backyard. 

“You smell different.” He added. 

“Good different?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Is it a new perfume?”

I furrowed my brows. “No, it’s the same one I’ve been using for years.”

“Interesting,” I could feel him taking in this information, and I could hear the gears in his head turning at an even faster rate to spit out more information. “Did you know that you pick your soulmate by subconsciously reacting to pheromones that transmit their genetic compatibility? Yeah, there’s a relationship between attraction and scent, which dates back to our primal instinct. So if someone smells appealing to you, even if you don’t know it, it could relate to your attraction to them and vice versa.” 

“Ah, then maybe I should consider changing my perfume to improve my love life.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous. I love the way you smell.”

In the back of my mind lied the unanswered question I neglected to voice, “But do you love me?”

When we reached the backyard, I heard him gasp in awe. 

“It looks beautiful, Y/N. You did great.”  

Nestled in my backyard was a dark wooden deck, surrounded by plentiful greenery. Lining the perimeter of the shiny wooden deck were asymmetrical rocks, while above us hung strands of fairy lights that cast a sheer golden glow on the entire scene. The ambiance was not for Spencer specifically, but I was happy that he appreciated it nonetheless. 

“You ready?” 

He signaled yes by putting his thumb up and so it began.

“Alright, so slow dancing can be broken into four easy steps, but first, you gotta know how to hold your partner correctly.” 

Spencer and I took a step towards each other, and I could feel the nervous energy radiating off of him. I tried not to call attention to it, so I simply continued with my process. Outstretching my arms to form a T with my body, I guided him verbally. 

“So I’m the follower. And you’re the leader. Got it?” 

He nodded. 

“Leader puts their right hand under the follower's left armpit and cups their hand around the follower's shoulder blade.” 

He understood my instructions, and in the most awkward manner possible, he fumbled his way into the right position, albeit, not perfect. 

“Now, hold my right hand as high as my eye level without raising my shoulder.” 

Spencer was glaringly anxious, so I gave him a word of encouragement. “Hey, don’t be nervous. It’s just me, okay? And you’re doing great.”

I could see the nerves beginning to settle, translating into the conviction with which he took my hand, raising it at the perfect height. 

“Great. Just like that.” 

My praise brought out that smile in him that only ever came out on rare occasions. The kind where it’s brief, his teeth showing, a light chuckle escapes him, and he’s looking down as if he’s too shy to look at me. 

“Okay, step two is basic footwork. Leader starts with their left foot and takes a step to the left. And then your right foot is going to meet your left foot and tap. The count is one-two.” 

I watched as Spencer tried to process what I was saying. 

“Do you want me to demonstrate first? And then you follow?” 

He nodded rapidly as if saying yes wouldn’t be enough to communicate how much he needed me to lead. We broke apart so that I could turn my back towards him. I felt a cold draft blow under my dress as I spun on the ball of my feet, making my skirt flutter upwards majestically. 

I felt him watching. 

“Alright, so I’ll start and then you can catch on. It goes one-two.” 

Left foot step. Right foot tap. 

“Then three-four.” 

Left foot step. Right foot tap. 

“Then to the right this time. Five-six.” 

Right foot step. Left foot tap. 

“Seven-eight.” 

Right foot step. Left foot tap.

“And back again. One-two. Three-four. Five-six. Seven-eight.” 

My eight count continued until the click of my heels on the patio was joining by the sound of Spencer’s feet shuffling behind me. I knew if I turned around to check on him, it would only psych him out and make him more nervous, so I stayed facing forward so he wouldn’t feel that I was scrutinizing his technique. 

After a minute or so of following me, I spun back around, catching his lingering stare in the region of my hips. He tried to play it off and pretend he wasn’t, but I felt it. 

“You did really well tonight. I’m proud of you. I think that’s a good place to stop for today.” 

He thanked me with another hug, the kind where we nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck. 

God, I could feel him breathing on my shoulder. 

I tried not to not to let myself indulge in it, reasoning that this was just a way for one friend to thank another, but I couldn’t help myself when the hug lasted longer than it should’ve. I tightened my embrace around him, drawing him in closer, and shutting my eyes as if taking my sense of sight away would heighten my sense of touch and magnify this feeling I never wanted to end.

“You take care, okay?” I said, rubbing my hand up and down his back to signal we should pull away, a signal he understood.

I was the first to walk away, merely because of the worry that I might sooner cry if I had to stay under these lights with him a moment longer. 

I wasn’t sure I could do this again unless he was mine. Otherwise, I’d just be under the stars, dancing with the love of my life that I couldn’t have - feeling that feeling again, and not being able to act on it. 

Is this what happens when your person loves somebody else?

∙•○⦾☉☼☉⦾○•∙

I know I said I couldn’t do it, but I did it anyway. 

I guess that’s what love is. Doing things you don’t want to do because your care for the other person surpasses the discomfort. True love makes you do things like that, even if they aren’t in your best interest.

When he came over the next night, we danced again. Undoubtedly, he stumbled - even came close to falling - and yet, I fell in love all over again. After that, it got harder to separate dancing from my feelings. 

The next day, we had a case. He came to my hotel room and we danced in the dim golden light of the hotel room’s chandelier. God, it was so ambient and romantic, I think I fell even harder for him - if that was even possible. 

From then on, every time we were in the same place, he leapt at the opportunity to dance with me. 

“Guys, look what I learned last night! Come, Y/N! Come on, come on.” 

He waved me over eagerly with his hand, even helping me out of my seat in the round table just to speed up the process. All too excitedly, he assumed the leader’s position, and he danced me around the entire conference room in front of our coworkers. He spun me around the table, he dipped me in the doorway, he held me in his arms by the glass board. 

Can you really blame me for falling in love? 

“Wow, Y/N! I’m impressed. You really whipped him into shape.” JJ remarked with a clap. 

I hid behind a faux smile, but Spencer was too elated to recognize the deceit. He was like that now. Maybe love made him more of a fool, more naive and blissfully unaware, whereas love made me more devoted and cognizant. 

It went on like that for weeks. Practicing whenever and wherever we could. 

He’d pull me into the hotel lobby at midnight to dance - not even batting an eye at the looming presence of the receptionist. 

He’d ask me to come to his apartment and we’d dance in his living room or in the narrow hallway, just for fun. 

When we were at Rossi’s, he’d drag me to the kitchen, with Rossi’s gentle music playing in the background, and we’d sway by the fireplace sometimes. 

We danced once in the elevator when it got stuck. I never thought he’d be so fearless to do that, but he looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself, almost like he didn’t even notice we were stuck in an elevator. 

While we waited for the jet, we’d danced on the tarmac, looking like a moving bundle of clothes, our movements stifled by our thick peacoats, layers of clothes, and scarfs. 

After a dinner during cases, when we’d split a cab back to the hotel, he’d get me to dance on the sidewalk, even convincing me not to pay attention to the onlookers on the street, the honking cars, or the confused pedestrians. I was always embarrassed to be in the spotlight, but somehow with him, it was easy. It felt like it was just the two of us, dancing under that streetlight. 

I never understood why people wanted to live in a moment forever, but for the first time that night, I did. That was a moment I wanted to freeze in time. I wish I could’ve stayed there forever. There in that moment, it really felt like it was our own little world. It was easy to believe we’d end up together, and we were the ones getting married, and we were in love. 

But again, that was in that moment. In that singular, fleeting moment. And then life moved on, whether or not I was ready for it to. 

The day of rehearsals inevitably came, and I wasn’t originally supposed to be at the wedding rehearsal since I wasn’t part of the ceremony, but Spencer asked me to be there, deliberately neglecting to tell me that the reason he wanted me to come was so that I could fill in for Kayla, which had I known that, I would’ve certainly declined. 

When I walked in, the team was all there, sitting in the pews, with their heads turning to me where I was standing at the entrance of the church. It felt like an eerie nightmare that I was living out where I was Spencer’s bride walking down the aisle, and this was our wedding. I couldn’t tell you what was so nightmarish about it - probably because none of it felt right - but I was sick to my stomach when Spencer gestured for me to meet him at the altar. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Kayla had a last minute dress alteration in Norfolk and got stuck in traffic. She won’t make it for this rehearsal, but she’ll be there in time for the dinner rehearsal.” 

“So why am I here?” 

“I wanted to practice my vows on you, if that’s okay.” 

I gulped hard, trying to swallow the lump in my throat to open up my suddenly-closing airway. 

“Um, I don’t really know if -”

“Please, Y/N. I’m just nervous that I might mess up-”

How could I say no? True love makes you do crazy things, even if they aren’t in your best interest, right?

I reluctantly agreed. 

Spencer’s hands were trembling and I could see it by the way his notecards were shaking, even from the fact that he brought notecards alone, and that he didn’t already memorize his vows. I wanted to put my hands around his and hold them to settle his unsteadiness, but I knew that wasn’t my place. I figured my words would do a better job at not crossing a boundary that was already crossed.

“Hey,” I comfortingly whispered. “It’s just me, okay?” Calling back those words from the first time we danced months ago. “You don’t need those notecards. Just speak from the heart.”

And sure enough, his heart spoke. 

“When people used to tell me stories about what love felt like and what is what, they always said they fell in love with that person. Like it was sudden and all at once, but with you - I walked into love with you. With my eyes wide open, choosing to take each and every step along the way. I never believed in fate or destiny, but after I met you, I finally believed. I believed that we are only fated to do the things that we’d choose anyway. And I’d choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality. I’d find you and I’d choose you.”

My breath hitched as I got lost in his eyes and how they were looking right at me, completely unmindful of the way everyone around us saw how he spoke to me. 

I think he even got lost too, because what he said next, didn’t even seem to register in his mind before it came out of his mouth. 

“I love you . . . Y/N.” 

Gasps rang through the church, ricocheting off the high ceiling, and in that moment I knew, I knew he was going to kiss me. 

He lunged forward in the heat of the moment. Clearly not thinking straight, he held my face in his hands, and I swear to God, I could’ve kissed him back. 

I would’ve. 

“Spencer?” 

Every single head in the church turned toward the small voice, too distinct to misplace. 

“Kayla, wait!’ 

And there I stood, alone at the front of the altar, watching him run after her. 

∙•○⦾☉☼☉⦾○•∙

I sat by my phone the entire afternoon, waiting for someone - anyone - to update me. No one ever ended up texting or calling, so I figured the dinner rehearsal wasn’t cancelled. At least, in that case, my dress didn’t go to waste. 

After spending an ungodly amount of time curling my hair and putting on my makeup, even achieving a smoky eye look, I finally slipped on my navy-blue, satin, floor length dress, donning nude heels and a dainty gold necklace with a single diamond pendant that laid right on my sternum. 

It was a shame that this was a moment where I should’ve felt at my prettiest, and yet, I’d never felt so ugly. 

I was riddled with the guilt of knowing I would’ve kissed Spencer if Kayla hadn’t walked in. I felt even worse that I was so consumed by his speech that I didn’t even hear her come in. 

How long had she been standing there? Long enough to watch what I knew everyone else saw? These questions never left me. Not even when I pulled into the site of the dinner rehearsal. 

Clutching the front of my dress to walk without resistance, I came to the entrance, and opened the door to reveal . . . nothing.

Staff was removing chairs and tables. 

Waiters were collecting plates and utensils. 

And Spencer was standing in the very middle of the empty room, watching it all happen silently, like he was just the shell of a man. 

“Spencer!” I called out from the entrance, in no hurry to meet him at the middle of the room. He turned on his heels, with his hands sheepishly shoved into his pockets. 

“Gosh, I’m sorry, Y/N. I should’ve called to let you know it got cancelled, but um, Kayla broke my phone.”

“Well, it’s time you got a new phone anyway.” I chuckled, which thankfully earned a chuckle from him, too. 

“What happened, Spencer?” My voice was quiet, as if it was any decibel higher it would sound more like a scold than genuine concern. 

“She, um, she told me she needed some time to think. And I, I told her to come to the rehearsal dinner if she still wanted to get married and,” He mirthlessly chuckled. “Well, you already know.” His words were chosen carefully to deliberately avoid what he hadn’t yet come to terms with. 

She didn’t come. 

I wasn’t yet sure whether or not to console him or to berate him for what he almost did, but I chose the former. 

“I’m so sorry, Spence.” 

He looked up from the ground, still managing to avoid my gaze, by looking up at the ceiling, and pretty much everywhere my face wasn’t. 

“I understand if you want to leave right now. I just need to pay the owner and I’ll be out of here.” 

I shook my head instantly. “No, I’ll be right here. If you want me to be.” 

He bit his lip to stop a sob from escaping. “Yeah,” He nodded, cowering his head. “I’d like that a lot.” 

As soon as I saw his cheeks get red, I took it as a cue to approach him and hug him. He was grateful for my compassionate touch, immediately opening up his arms to hug me back. His embrace around me was needy and desperate, and it felt like he was clawing at my dress, acting out of anger that the fabric was stopping us from being that much closer. 

With his shoulder digging into the spot right underneath my chin, it was hard to utter the words, “You look really handsome, by the way.” I said, finally acknowledging his light beige suit and white button up shirt. 

“Thanks.” I heard him mumble into my shoulder. 

“Kayla doesn’t know what she’s missing.” 

To my surprise, he didn’t recoil, flinch, or so much as react to her name. Instead, he simply pulled away, wiping the moisture under his nose, and straightening out his suit. 

“We should . . . we should probably talk about what happened earlier, right?” 

I sighed and shook my head. “Not if you don’t want to. We can save that conversation for another day.”

He looked appreciative of my avoidance, but I knew he wanted to talk about it. 

“Hey, excuse me,” He stopped a staff member by clutching their arm gently. “Do you mind, actually? Leaving two seats behind.” 

The staff member complied, doing as he said, and leaving two chairs behind, setting one right across from the other. I took my seat, and Spencer took his.

“I probably shouldn’t have spoken from the heart, huh?” He joked, finally seeing the humor in his situation. 

“No, it was good that you did.”

“You think so?”

“Definitely. I think Kayla would’ve appreciated it.” All too quickly he responded with, “I wasn’t talking about Kayla.” 

I was talking about you, his somber eyes said. 

I looked away from his gaze immediately, trying to find a reprieve from the conversation that I was doing my best to avoid. 

“It was a really good speech. It sounded so natural. Like something you knew by heart.”

“Something I knew by heart?” He didn’t seem to understand what I meant. 

“Yeah, some things we just know by heart. Like the lyrics to our favorite song, or a recipe, how to dance,” We both chuckled at the reference. “Or . . . how to love.” 

“Do you think we know who to love by heart or do you think we make that choice ourselves?”

“I think it’s both. I think we can’t control the person we’re meant to love. That, by some miracle, we’re handed this person that complements us better than anyone else. But I also think it’s our choice on whether or not we pick them. Maybe we aren’t willing to stand the test of time and wait for our person, so we don’t pick them and settle for someone else. Or maybe we do pick them and we live out the rest of our lives together. I think that’s what makes love so special. It’s a person choosing you over and over again.” 

Isn’t that what we all want? To feel chosen?

“And what if we make the wrong decision? What if we’ve met who we’re supposed to love, but we chose to love another?” His eyes were searching within mine for the words that I wasn’t saying out loud. Out of fear that my eyes might expose me to Spencer, I looked away. 

“I think -”

Spencer cut me off. “Look at me.” 

My head didn’t move, but I shifted my gaze just as he wanted.

“When two people are meant to be, nothing and no one can end them. They may get lost a time or two on their journey, but true, real love will always conquer. Nothing can compete with them. Others can only attempt to fill a void. And eventually, the two will be reunited. That’s the beauty of true love; you always end up with the right person, at the right time, regardless of any other factor.” 

Quiet fell upon us two after I said my piece. My breathing slowed down and the knot in my stomach came undone. The lump in my throat disappeared. 

All my bodily barriers broke down. There were no more emotional walls up between the two of us anymore. I was completely vulnerable - nothing to hide me. Not even my eyelids could hide the windows of my soul. Spencer had already seen into them. 

He saw my soul, my secrets. 

“Dance with me.” He extended his hand in the air between us two. With no hesitation, I accepted his offer and followed his lead. He’d never danced so naturally before. Somehow, his stiffness had withered away. The thick tension that used to loom in the air above us two dissipated. Something new replaced the contents of the atmosphere. 

Love. 

Unbounded. 

Unrestrained. 

Unbridled. 

Limitless love. 

Spencer drew me in closer so my head could lay on his chest. Previously, I was looking at his face, but now the view was of our connected hands. My fingers were intertwined with his, and I didn’t even notice how his thumb was rubbing small circles on the back of my hand until I saw it with my own eyes. 

Had he always done that, but I couldn’t feel it until I saw it for myself? If so, what else had he been doing that I couldn’t feel?

“Loving you.” 

I removed my head from his shoulder after hearing him answer the question that I pondered silently, wondering if suddenly just acquired the superpower of telepathy.

“What?”

“Loving you. That’s all I know how to do by heart.” 

A wave of relief came over me when I realized he hadn’t read my mind, he was just simply adding to our conversation from before. 

“That’s not true,” I mirthlessly chuckled. “There’s lots you know how to do. You know thousands of chess permutations, you know how to geographically profile - you know how to dance now.” I countered playfully.

He shook his head. “I know how to do those things, but sometimes, none of it makes sense. I used to lose matches against Gideon, sometimes the comfort zone is inaccurate, and until today, I couldn’t dance very well,” He chortled. “But loving you. That always made sense. It never failed me or disappointed me and it’s so all-consuming that if I try to love anyone else - it just doesn’t make sense.”

Of all the words in my vocabulary, each of them were failing me. I was rendered speechless. Spencer cleared his throat and looked away for a moment, before finding the nerve to say it. 

“I choose you.” He proclaimed. 

So, I was right. 

There are some things we know by heart. 

Lyrics to our favorite song.

A recipe. 

How to dance . . . how to love.

And who to choose. 

“I choose you, too, Spencer.” 

. . . So to answer my question from before, is life really that magical? . . . 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

[sage-nebula]

Probably going to lose followers, but I don't care, I need to get this off my chest, and the best way to do that is with a meme, so here it is. This is mostly about him showing up in PokéMas where he doesn't belong (and the TRio don't belong there either, and neither does any other character from the anime or any of the various manga), but is also my general feelings about him as a protagonist. He should have left after DP at the absolute latest, and his character has really suffered for it. But while that's unfortunate for him, it's also unfortunate for those of us in the audience who wish that we could have an interesting protagonist, so I'm more annoyed by him now than I feel sorry for him.

Copy-pasting a comment I left on Reddit after someone asked me what I meant when I said that staying on as a protagonist for too long ruined his character under the cut:

Although Ash has always wanted accolades and trophies, the point of his character (originally) was not to be a super strong trainer who always won battles all the time, but rather to be a protagonist that approached the world of pokémon with the same love and wonder that the audience most likely did. So the fact that Pikachu lost to Snivy or whatever—idgaf about that, that doesn't bother me. I started with the OS, I've seen far worse.

So when I say that Ash's character was ruined because he stuck around too long, what I mean is that while other characters in the show (sans the TRio for the same reason) got to have character arcs where they not only accomplished new things, but also grew as characters, Ash doesn't get to have that because they're not allowed to end his story. OS -> DP was a proper progression; we saw him start out as a cocky brat who made mistakes all the time and threw tantrums and sulking fits, to a seasoned trainer who was still snarky as all hell and had flaws, but had made a lot of progress both in his professional (for lack of a better word) goals and his character as a person.

But the problem is, there was nowhere really for him to go after Sinnoh. Oh sure, they could have him try the Unova League, the Kalos League, etc—but in terms of personal growth he had plateaued, and unfortunately, that makes for a boring as shit protagonist. The "reset" in BW was as much to coincide with the games (because the theme behind the BW games was that they were supposed to be a "back to basics" a la the RGB games) but also because they had to try to find something for Ash to do, some way to allow him growth. Only that wasn't received well at all because of people who hated the fact that he had his skill set back, so then in XYZ they decided to make him an Ace Trainer who had the remainder of any negative traits smoothed away (save for that one teeny tiny arc in Snowbelle when he pouted a bit because he lost a couple battles) and won almost every battle he was ever in. But then people threw fits over the Kalos League, and on top of that XYZ was beaten ratings-wise by slice of life anime like Yo-Kai Watch, so for SM they made him act more childlike (but still without any noticeable character flaws and thus no room for growth), but had him win the League. And now in Journeys they're keeping that, but it's even worse because his strongest pokémon were just HANDED to him (Dragonite, Gengar, Lucario) and, again, he has no real flaws and no room for growth.

From OS -> DP, Ash was a great protagonist. He was such a dynamic and interesting character because he messed up, he made mistakes, he could be a jerk sometimes, but ultimately he had a good heart, was trying his best, and was improving and growing. But the writers were forced to stagnate, and as a result he's not really a character anymore, but instead a vessel for the audience wholesale. And because the audience throws massive shitfits every time he loses or doesn't get the very best of everything (e.g. the Kalos League even though that loss was justified, Lana getting Eevee instead of Ash, Gou getting anything at all ever, etc), he's now had his place in the Masters 8 basically handed to him on a platter, with the assurance he'll make it through to Leon because anything else would cause the fandom to have a conniption. There are literally zero stakes because we already know how this will go down. And while it would be great if they were just trying to write him off as the protagonist so they could tell new, fresh stories with new, fresh protagonists, replacing Ash means replacing Pikachu, and his specific Pikachu is the franchise mascot, so that will never happen. Much like Ash himself, we are stuck.

TL;DR: Ash sticking around too long ruined his character because when a character doesn't have an end to their arc, they just don't have an arc, period. Ash is no longer really a character, and it's REALLY noticeable if you go back and watch the earlier series (namely OS -> DP).

[lovecolibri]

Passing by just to say that the answers to your anons are always so perfect. I agree that fandom hated A a lot less of T cause we barely saw her while T is everywhere for no reason. After all this wasted time I just hope the breakup'll be amazing. Because I'm not even enjoyng buck character this season since I always skeep his scenes cause they're always with her. I hope that wasting his character in all 5a will be worth in 5b

Awwwwww, thanks Nonnie! I feel like I always post at weird, dead times so no one sees them, so it's nice to know they are seen and appreciated!

And I think you're spot on because it's certainly how I felt. I did not like Ana for lots of reasons to do with her character (I have a draft that I'll likely never publish about how she wasn't "perfect" for Eddie even on paper, but I digress), but it was clear from the jump we weren't really supposed to like or root for that relationship, and every scene with her was focused on Eddie or Chris because it was never about her. And that's how Tay Kay should have been, because it was never about her either. Buck's head has been a mystery this season which may be intentional, but that doesn't mean we should have focused any time on her or her backstory that literally no one, not even the casual general audience viewers wanted. As soon as Ghost Stories aired, people were already speaking up about not wanting any backstory for her.

And it's....funny almost, how we got this whole story for her, but it was still entirely from Buck's POV (we never saw her having a scene alone talking to her dad or the lawyer or in the prison or anything), but we also didn't get to see how Buck is actually feeling about things either! (I mean textually. His body language, face, and clothing were all...very loud.) So it all feels like even more wasted time because we didn't actually learn anything, except that her actions in 2x06 were actually worse that we originally thought.

The writers set the bar HIGH with that eddieana breakup, but I still think the bt one is going to be really good, and we are going to get Buck making the choice that he deserves better and that someone just saying they love him isn't enough. If he's not feeling loved and supported and safe to open up in the relationship its just not enough.

And 5b? Mmmmm, it is looking delicious and Oliver being SO excited has got me looking forward to everything unfolding even more!

Thanks for stopping by and giving me an excuse to ramble some more!